Apple Taps Periscope Lens Suppliers for iPhones in 2022: Ming-Chi Kuo

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that South Korea’s Semco and China’s Sunny Optical are expected to enter Apple’s supplier chain.

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 22 July 2020 18:10 IST

Apple Taps Periscope Lens Suppliers for iPhones in 2022: Ming-Chi Kuo

Apple looks to diversify its lens supply chain to get the latest technology on board

Highlights

Apple looks to receive Semco’s supply of ball-type VCM tech this year
Sunny Optical is reported to begin with 5P lens shipments for iPad
Semco looks to grab half the orders for Apple periscope lens in 2022

Apple may introduce periscope telephoto lenses in 2022, as new lens suppliers are predicted for the Cupertino giant in an investor note released by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. He says that South Korea's Semco and China's Sunny Optical are expected to enter Apple's supplier chain in second half of 2020 and early 2021, respectively. The note also suggests that Semco will get the order to supply a large percentage of new periscope telephoto lenses in 2022, leading to speculations that Apple is looking to add a periscope lens into the iPhone in about two years from now.

Apple Insider and MacRumors have accessed Kuo's latest investor note, and they report that Semco may get the biggest slice of orders for shipping the periscope telephoto lens for the iPhone in 2022. It is estimated that about half of all orders will go to Semco that year. This should impact Genius Electronic Optical – the company that currently provides lenses to Apple for its iPhones.

Apple is known to diversify its supply chain to reduce costs and get their hands on the latest technology. Alps, Largan, and Minebea are also reported to offer parts for the new periscope mechanism.

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Semco is reported to enter Apple's supply chain sometime in the second half this year, offering 6P lens arrays and ball-type voice coil motor technology to improve autofocus. This technology is said to be better than the spring-based design used in current iPhones. Whether this new VCM technology is integrated into the iPhone 12 or not is yet to be seen. Kuo adds Semco will also supply 6P/7P or 5P/6P lens components in 2021, taking orders away from current suppliers Largan and Genius.

China's Sunny Optical is looking to enter the Apple supply chain sometime in 2021, and it is likely to begin with mass 5P lens shipments for iPad, as well as specific Mac lenses.

As for iPhone 12 this year, Kuo had earlier predicted that the 2020 iPhone models may come with multiple camera improvements, including larger sensors for capturing more light and better image stabilisation with the inclusion of sensor-shift image stabilisation. The new image stabilisation technology is reported to bring image stabilisation to the whole camera module, instead of being limited to individual camera lenses.

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